Utah HC 3 – Canadian 2 (P) | Mikhail Sergachev scores in overtime and leads his team to victory

The Canadian found his bearings on defense Tuesday evening, but he did not find his way to victory.

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Mikhail Sergachev shook the strings in overtime and Utah HC defeated the Montreal club 3-2 at the Bell Center.

After a 6-2 loss against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday, the Canadian players avoided repeated blunders. This time, they cleaned up the penalty box, but managed to limit the damage.

Sergachev finally delivered the final blow, taking advantage of a pass from Nick Schmaltz.

Jayden Struble and Alex Newhook scored for the Canadian (7-11-3). Samuel Montembeault made 26 saves.

Dylan Guenther had a goal and an assist, while Jack McBain also scored for Utah HC (9-10-3). Karel Vejmelka stopped 11 shots.

Defenseman Justin Barron was back in the Canadian lineup, in place of Mike Matheson, who was dealing with a lower body injury.

On the offensive side, Joshua Roy played his first game with the Canadian this season, the day after his recall from the Laval Rocket. Lucas Condotta was demoted in the American Hockey League and gave up his place in the lineup.

The Canadian will play again on Wednesday evening, when he visits the Columbus Blue Jackets.

A hot fight

The Habs started the meeting well. Cole Caufield came close to opening the scoring, but he hit the post to Vejmelka’s right.

The Utah goalkeeper also made a nice glove save against Caufield a few moments later.

The Canadian slowed down his momentum by then accumulating punishments.

Montembeault kept his team in the game with several spectacular saves, including one depriving Nick Bjugstad of a certain goal.

The Canadian did not have another shot on goal during the last 9:56 of the first period. Utah HC took the last eight shots on goal of the period.

By playing with fire, the Canadian got burned. Moments after Christian Dvorak hit the post shorthanded, the visitors scored seconds after a Newhook penalty ended at 6:23. Guenther beat Montembeault with a powerful one-timer following ‘a cross pass from Clayton Keller.

The Canadian avoided being demoralized by this goal and responded at 8:05. Struble surprised Vejmelka with a high shot from the slot.

This goal seemed to give energy to the Canadian, who had a few good sequences in the opposing zone afterwards, without really challenging Vejmelka.

The Habs took the lead 46 seconds into the third period. Newhook took advantage of a loose puck at the mouth of the net to score his fifth goal of the season.

Utah HC, however, responded at 4:17 in a two-on-one attack. McBain scored following a pass from Logan Cooley.

Sergachev finally decided in overtime with 26.7 seconds left on the clock.